Fred's closing another 104 stores in more than a dozen states

Discount retailer Fred's is closing another 104 stores across 13 states in a bid to cut costs.

The Memphis-based chain says liquidation sales are under way at stores set to shut by the end of June.

Regional retailer's announcement comes a month after it said it would shut 159 stores.

Regional retailer Fred's is closing another 104 stores in 13 states by the end of June. The 72-year-old discount chain's announcement follows its decision last month to close 159 stores. After the second round of liquidation sales and closures in complete, Fred's will have just over 300 locations still in operation.

"These additional store closures are a difficult, but necessary step in the continued restructuring of Fred's," CEO Joseph Anto said in a statement on Thursday.

The Memphis-based company said the closures involve stores in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. (See the full list of stores holding liquidation sales below.)

The chain started off the year with 557 stores, mostly in the southeastern U.S., and has retained a financial adviser to explore options that often include a restructuring or potential sale. Walgreen's bought Fred's pharmacy patient prescriptions files and inventory in 2018.

Retailers that could fall in 2019

The company's shares have plummeted more than 80 percent since Fred's scrapped its bid to buy 1,200 Rite Aid drugstores in 2017, and currently are trading under a buck, putting the company in danger of being delisted by Nasdaq.